TELL CONGRESS WHAT YOU THINK!
Orphan Works 2008
URGENT CALL TO ACTION
BREAKING NEWS, May 6, 2008 -
The House is meeting at 2:00 p.m.,
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 2141 Rayburn House
Office Building markup of H.R. 5889, the
"Orphan Works Act of 2008"
This means that if you oppose the House Bill as it stands, it is
extremely important to make your voice heard before that
meeting begins.
Please take a moment to be heard via a prepared letter of your
choice, or by including your own reasoned thoughts in a
professional courteous manner.
THIS LINK HAS PREFORMATTED LETTERS OPPOSING THE BILL
REGARDING ORPHAN WORKS:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11303956
IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT ORPHAN WORKS-- SAY IT TODAY
... BEFORE 2:00 PM
———————
The Orphan Works Act will affect all images from professional paintings
to family snapshots. This includes any image, whether published or
unpublished - or any that resides or ever resided on the internet. It
will force me to register every image I make with privately-held
commercial registries. All unregistered works will be exposed as
potential orphans for commercial infringement.
This radical change to U.S. copyright law will shift the burden of
diligence from infringers to rights holders. All of us will have to
regularly monitor the unauthorized use of our most personal work - an
impossible task because infringements can occur anytime, anywhere in the
world. It is wrong to give infringers the right to make money from my
property without my knowledge or consent. How could I ever stop bad
actors from using it in abusive, cheap or distasteful ways? I am alive,
working and “locatable” to anyone I wish to find me. I am managing my
copyrights in accord with U.S. and international law. I should not have
to pay some for-profit company to keep the work I’ve created.
Copyright laws are based on legal and business practices that have
passed the test of time. They protect a vulnerable form of private
property and the privacy rights embodied in them. They should not be
undermined for the sake of special interest groups or for transitory
reasons.
For those and other reasons, I ask you to consider the harm this bill
can do to existing businesses and vote against it unless it is amended
to precisely define an orphan work as a copyright no longer managed by a
rightsholder.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed Orphan Works
legislation.
